Recently, a multiagent technique is receiving attention as the Internet becomes popular (see, for example, Non-patent Document 1). A multiagent is a system in which multiple agents or programs that autonomously behave cooperate with one another to solve a problem. The Non-patent Document 1 proposes a video distribution technique using a multiagent and its organization for efficiently executing multiple types of video distributions to many and unspecified persons.
[Non-patent Document 1] Atsushi Terauchi, 6 others, “An Efficient Broadband Streaming Architecture based on Self-Adaptive Agent Organization”, [online], Dec. 14, 2004, Japan Society for Software Science and Technology, Internet Technology Workshop, [searched on Mar. 15, 2008], Internet <URL:http://wit.jssst.or.jp/2004/WIT2004/WIT2004-terauchi.pdf.
In a business system using such a multiagent technology, in some cases, a plurality of agents cooperate to execute one transaction (hereinafter, a transaction to be executed in such a way is called “cooperative transaction”). However, a transaction processing mechanism in such a system has not been proposed. Without such a mechanism, one transaction needs to be separated into a plurality of transactions. This involves a method of carrying out rollback of transactions based on compensation transaction. This method is complicated, and leads to an increase in the number of development steps. Therefore, a cooperative transaction mechanism which can allow a plurality of agents to execute one transaction is necessary.